Review: Sterling Evolution Velocity BiColor 9.8mm 70m Climbing Rope

Review: Sterling Evolution Velocity BiColor 9.8mm 70m Climbing Rope

Sterling Ropes Evolution
Velocity BiColor 9.8mm 70m

Today we review the Sterling Evolution Velocity BiColor 9.8mm 70m rope. This is one of the best ropes we've ever laid our dusty mitts on. I'm excited to write about our experiences with it because it has been a delight so far.

Caustic Cock 5.11b
Red Rock Canyon

We've had this green monster since Christmas and it's already visited Donner, Red Rock Canyon, Owens River Gorge, the Buttermilks, and more. One of the first things you notice is that it's incredibly easy to flake. It's really wonderful if you're cragging around at a place like ORG with a bunch of different areas and you end up having to flake and coil your rope every 25 minutes. Some days I feel like flaking the rope gets my arms more tired than climbing itself. The Sterling Rope Evolution Velocity 9.8mm Rope is about as easy a flake as you are realistically going to get with any rope. We've probably put a vertical mile or two on it already and it's still the easiest cleanup of any rope we've used. 

To say this rope is loud is the understatement of the century. It's bright neon lime green and visually pops! I love how loud it is. It's not just an aesthetic improvement -- it also has a great deal of contrast with natural rock and dirt colors. This is great when you're trying to find your ends, pull your rope out of a crack as you rappel, and keep track of where your rope is relative to the wall. The bright color is a nice convenience. And as a child of the 80s, the rope's jazzy neon flavor speaks to me on a mitochondrial level. We're connected, man. 

Getting started at Cannibal Crag

Another detail I love: the bicolor. Lordy lordy, the bicolor. Mark my words -- I am never getting a single color rope again. The middle marker on all our single color ropes wears out in the first 3 months, in my experience. Rappelling with a bicolor rope is so nice. Bicolor is such a small detail but a big quality of life improvement. 

A couple of downsides, though.. All that glitters. First of all, at upwards of $300, the Sterling Evolution Velocity is a heck of an investment. You could load the van and drive to WV for a week at the New for that much. If you want quality, you better start saving. The loud color isn't for everyone. Fortunately, the Sterling Rope Evolution Velocity 9.8mm Rope ($304.38 with Free Shipping on Amazon) comes in 11 different flavors and either 60m or 70m. The 60m version is around $40 cheaper if you're hard up for scratch.

Bottom Line: 

The Sterling Evolution Velocity BiColor 9.8mm 70m Dry Climbing Rope, in addition to having the longest product name ever, is one of the best ropes I've ever used. It flakes like a dream. It's about as light as you can expect seventy meters of anything to be. It feels smooth and solid. It plays nice with both tube and mechanical belay devices. The bicolor pattern makes rapping as easy as a dream. At 300 bucks, it's pricey, though. This is the Lamborghini of climbing ropes. Fast, light, sexy, and high performance. We love it.

Go hard,
Ariel Castro
Rugged Innovations